Route History 'tells stories that haven't been told'

Steven Spearie Staff Writer @stevenspearie

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2019 at 10:22 PMMar 19, 2019 at 10:22 PM

Route History, which opened to the public last month in the former Texaco gas station at 737 E. Cook St., highlights stories around the African-American experience on Route 66, Jim Crow laws and the Great Migration.

The museum and visitors center also sheds light on local African-American history, including Eva Carroll Monroe's role in founding the Lincoln Colored Home and the Ambidexter Institute, a briefly run industrial school in the 20th century patterned after Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute.

Route History president Gina Lathan grew up and was educated in Springfield but said she doesn't remember hearing Monroe's name being mentioned.

Lathan is promising to give Monroe, and others, their due.

"What I know is that, unfortunately, so many people have been lost in history," Lathan said during a recent tour of the building. "We have a responsibility to come back and highlight their accomplishments."

Lathan said she's determined to raise Monroe's profile on a statewide "Thank You, Ms. Eva" tour. One such program will be held at the Springfield High School auditorium on April 24 at 5:30 p.m.

Proceeds from sales of specially designed T-shirts at Route History will be donated toward the rehabilitation of the Lincoln Colored Home, 427 S. 12th St.

Lathan is hoping to capture some of the momentum from the Academy Award-winning best picture "The Green Book." The title and premise of the movie comes from a series of books published from 1936 to 1966 by Victor H. Green, a New York postal carrier, about places accommodating for African-American travelers.

An entry from "The Green Book" displayed at Route History highlights Cansler's Lounge, a popular cafe and jazz lounge that was located in the 800 block of East Washington Street.

Lathan, who did her own research on the subject before the film came out, said Green did more than write books.

"(Green) saved many lives and he provided that road map so people could have a better quality of life and could really take care of their families in a meaningful way," said Lathan. "(For African-Americans) travel had to be strategically done because of racism and discrimination.

"He provided those safety nets. There were many places of lodging black people couldn't go to, as well as getting food."

Springfield was important, Lathan added, because 200 miles to the north and to the south there were "sundown towns," communities unwelcoming to African-Americans after daylight.

"Springfield served as the hub for resources for lodging, for food, for entertainment, for gasoline," Lathan said. "It shows that even after the Race Riot (of 1908) that Springfield began to transition back (to where we were) building as prominent hub for black businesses."

Those African-American-run businesses, she said, provided "economic and social support" for the community.

Along Route 66, Lathan pointed out, Esso, which was a part of Standard Oil, started an entrepreneurial program for African-American gas station owners and hiring African-American marketing executives as early as 1947.

"They understood it was not about race and racism, but it was about economics," said Lathan. "This is a space where we can celebrate black business owners."

Route History tells the stories of individuals as William Donnegan, who hired out slaves from the South as laborers in Illinois and was lynched on the second evening of the Race Riot, according to SangamonLink, and Jameson Jenkins, a drayman or teamster and neighbor of Abraham Lincoln, who aided a number of runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad on a route from Springfield to Bloomington.

The Ambidexter Institute, where African-American students were trained and educated around math and science, is "a rich piece of history we just don't talk about," said Lathan.

Monroe founded the Lincoln Colored Home in 1904 as the first orphanage for African-American children in Sangamon County. Lathan called Monroe "a pioneer in health and human services."

"It's very important that in particular young black people see that so many people born and raised in Springfield have made so many sacrifices and have done so many great things," she added.

Kenneth Lockhart, chief fiscal officer for Route History, said one of the early African-American firefighters in Springfield, Charles Lockhart Sr., was his great-grandfather.

Route History "tells stories that haven't been told" and need to be heard, said Lockhart, a journeyman operator for Operating Engineers Local 965 in Springfield.

Tony Libri, president of the Old Aristocracy Hill Neighborhood Association, said Route History adds to the historical nature of the neighborhood, which includes the Lincoln Home, the Elijah Iles Home and the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum.

"I'm interested in history and I'm always interested in the neighborhood improving, and it will with the addition of Route History," said Libri.

According to Curtis Mann of the Sangamon Valley Collection at Lincoln Library, the building housing Route History was known as Diss Texaco in 1949. A competing gas station at 801 E. Cook St. was once owned by Bob McCutcheon and was known by several names through the years, including D-X and Hi-T Quality Service.

Lathan said Route History has been working with Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, a nonprofit organization that has promoted the U.S. Department of Transportation designation for Route 66 in Illinois since 2005. Parts of Fifth, Sixth and Ninth streets, all near Route History, were all alignments of Route 66.

This spring, Lathan said Route History will be starting a beautification project on the outside of the building so it will be able to have book signings and "opportunities for international and national visitors to engage with Springfield and residents of Springfield."

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